This week, top publications such as The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Salon and more call The Walking Dead one of the year’s best TV shows. Plus, Lost‘s co-creator Damon Lindelof talks with Collider.com about The Walking Dead‘s success. Read on for more:

In the world of The Walking Dead Social Game, strategy is everything. During missions, use the map to determine a good hiding spot in relationship to where supplies and nearby walkers are located. If you take the time to plot out your missions, you’ll have a smoother path to victory. Biting off more than you can chew may just get you bitten…which is never a good thing during the apocalypse.

Thankfully, the Mayans were wrong. The world didn’t end and the zombie apocalypse has been — at least temporarily — delayed. So what plans should you make now that New Year’s Eve is a go? Here’s one idea: On Mon., Dec. 31, AMC will air a marathon of the first eight episodes of The Walking Dead Season 3 beginning at 9PM/8c with that season’s premiere, “Seed.” Countdown to 2013 with Rick, the Governor, Michonne and the rest of the survivors.

Surviving the zombie apocalypse is easier with a team. On your next mission, click “Group Characters” below your avatar and you’ll be better equipped to keep your team safe and together. You can always “Ungroup” your character if you need to split up for individual objectives like distracting a walker or to conserve energy. But sometimes it’s best to take Rick’s advice and “stay in tight formation.” Give this technique a try in The Walking Dead Social Game the next time you play.

You might not know it but you actually don’t have to travel back to camp each time you complete a mission in The Walking Dead Social Game. Instead, continue directly to the next mission. This costs less energy than returning to camp. Remember, every camp mission has unique energy requirements so you want to conserve whenever possible.

• Entertainment Weekly picks the Midseason Finale, “Made to Suffer,” as one of the year’s best episodes: “Season 3 of the zombie drama has been all about less chatter and more splatter, and the action was never more frenzied than in the show’s Midseason Finale.” (No link)

The Walking Dead faced formidable competition for this year’s Genre award, beating out FX’s American Horror Story, ABC’s Once Upon a Time, The CW’s Arrow and The Supernatural, Fox’s Fringe and NBC’s Grimm.

Actor IronE Singleton (T-Dog on AMC’s The Walking Dead) describes the mysterious call that portended his character’s fate and mulls the possibility of T-Dog resurrecting as a zombie rapper.

Q: T-Dog’s walker kill count this year seemed a lot higher than in previous seasons. Was that a welcome shift?

A: The first episode, I got enough kills to last for the next four seasons. People were always asking, “T-Dog, how many walkers are you going to take out?” Before, when I didn’t have any, I would tell people “I have about 500 kills — off-screen.” Like all those times the camera moves, he was taking out walkers. But this season I got enough to make up for the first two!

Q: As one of the Atlanta natives on the show, did you doing anything to help welcome the cast back to your city?

A: I had a screening with people here at the house. We had 150 people here, so you know I was excited. My wife did a terrific job of putting things together — she handles all of that stuff. My job was just to post when they got here and do my Walking Dead song.

Q: Walking Dead song?

A: Have you heard it? It’s my version of what a zombie would talk about if a zombie could talk. I’m rapping. And the beat is so hot!

If you’ve ever tried to beat out a herd of walkers with only a baseball bat, you’ll know firsthand that you won’t last very long. The next time you’re face-to-face with that kind of trouble, switch weapons by hovering over your character and selecting the “change weapon” option to try a gun instead. Swapping in another weapon during a mission can help you better get the job done. Go give it a shot in The Walking Dead Social Game!

In the world of The Walking Dead Social Game, the skill points you earn really do count for something. But how you apply those points really depends on how you want to play. If you enjoy getting up close and personal with walkers, you’ll want to build up your STRIKING points which will improve your ability to use melee weapons. If your approach is to always keep walkers at a distance, you should up your SHOOTING points which will increase your proficiency with a gun. But life is more than killing zombies. Increasing the strength of your VISION will allow you to better spot nearby fuel and supplies (as well as walkers); upgrading MOVEMENT will expand how far you can move around maps on any given turn. If you’re constantly refilling your STAMINA, improving this stat will allow you to withstand more attacks from walkers. Creating a well-rounded character might be your key to surviving the apocalypse!